


A Memory Graven

by Rens_Knight



Series: In the Burning of the Light [13]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-09 17:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12893313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rens_Knight/pseuds/Rens_Knight
Summary: Heretic Sith Lord Darth Imperius, also known as Tarssus Kallig, has given his ship's quartermaster, the droid 2V-R8, an unusual exercise: to select during Imperius' visit to his homeworld of Dromund Fels some item not for Imperius or the crew, but of his own desire.Of all the things Imperius imagined that 2V might have selected, nothing could have prepared the young Light Sith for this...





	A Memory Graven

As the Fury's hatch slid shut with me securely on board, I couldn't help releasing a long, weary sigh. Dromund Fels was home, yes...but so too was this ship. And now, after all the sorrows--and still a few joys, yes--of returning to the place of my birth, I longed for the relative isolation of my small sanctuary in the stars. There were a few matters of preflight business to attend to aboard ship before I could retreat to my private quarters, but at least those were by now comfortingly familiar.

The moment I stepped out onto the ship's bridge, I heard a hydraulic whirr as the ship's droid quartermaster, 2V-R8, stirred himself into motion and immediately greeted me as soon as I'd turned to face his direction. "Ah, welcome back, my lord! I am pleased to report that the requisition list has been successfully completed and all cargo and fuel safely secured and stowed. I have also completed delivery of special request items to all quarters--except those of Khem Val, of course. I posted a message to him notifying him that his requested items were stored in the galley."

"Wise decision," I said. The Dashade assassin tolerated no intruders in his quarters--save for myself, and even then I did not particularly care to push my luck more than necessary. Which suited us both. "The esharq-peppers have been suitably labeled, I assume?"

"Yes, sir, appropriate chemical hazard labels have been applied," 2V confirmed.

This and prior requisition lists had revealed what a Dashade consumed when not dining on the energy of defeated Force wielders: a smorgasbord of raw meats topped with extraordinary quantities of esharq-peppers so violently spicy that even the spice-resistant Sith Purebloods, like Rûmaz, the Emperor's Wrath, would surely look at Val's plate with alarm. Even touching an esharq pepper could cause a human's skin to burn, and touching one's eyes after handling an esharq was decidedly not recommended. Nor was being forced to dock for medical services at a vulnerable time thanks to some non-Dashade having a galley mishap. Hence the warning labels, similar to the ones used on toxic chemicals.

"Good," I replied. "And no trouble from any of the suppliers you've dealt with here, I hope?"

"Your promotion has resulted in a marked improvement in supplier conduct," 2V remarked with what I could almost have sworn was dry humor.

I grinned, gratified on a multitude of levels at that. "Pleased to hear it."

With that, 2V handed me a datapad with the completed requisition list for final review and signoff. As I scanned down the list, however, it seemed as though one item I had hoped to see added was missing. Taking a look around the bridge, I noticed Andronikos running his own preflight checklists at the nav station. So I caught the quartermaster's ocular sensor with my eye and nodded towards the door to the corridor as I said, "There is one more item I would like to go over at a bit more length."

2V-R8 immediately took my meaning, and followed me off of the bridge and towards the conference room, which was currently out of use with our still being in port. I pulled up a chair, and the droid, albeit clumsily, followed suit and took a seat as well.

What I had hoped to see noted on the requisition list was something 2V had chosen for himself, for the two of us were running a secret, albeit benign experiment of sorts that only I, Ashara, and Talos knew about: helping the anxious droid to develop beyond his programming, and form the capacity to think and act fully for himself. For if there was one thing I did not desire aboard my ship, it was a being, whether organic or mechanical, who was a slave without a choice to serve.

Even simple steps, like encouraging him to express and act upon truly individual wants and preferences, I hoped would eventually lead in the right direction. Unfortunately, as far as this little challenge exercise was concerned, it seemed 2V had come back empty-handed. At least, it seemed so judging from the requisition list, which had remained unaltered on my review.

"Was there nothing to your liking?" I asked him--softly, so as not to give the occasionally still skittish droid the sense that he had failed in my eyes.

"With the utmost respect, my lord," 2V replied, "I must offer a slight correction. I have chosen something and brought it back, but it is currently an intangible."

I raised an eyebrow. "'Currently an intangible'? I can't say I know quite what that means--but now you have me thoroughly intrigued. Is it something you can show me?"

2V keyed at one of the monitor consoles embedded in the conference room table, and a schematic appeared...perhaps something more like a template. Or--no, wait. Suddenly, as I leaned forward in in my seat, I recognized exactly what it was. It was lineart, the sort of thing one might use to complete a drawing. Or, where I had personally come across such things, an engraving. Now that was truly remarkable...the quartermaster had obtained art somehow? And I had to admit, as I looked further at the intricate design of concentric rings and embellishments, that he had good taste.

"The design is an astromandala," 2V-R8 informed me, noting my initial lack of recognition, "which dates back to the initial settlement of Dromund Fels by the Sith people, before the coming of the Jen'jidai exiles. The astromandala traditionally records the position of astronomical objects visible to unaided Sith and human sight at a given location's winter solstice, or Darkest Night. This astromandala is unique to Soisûn."

My birth city...strange, I thought, for 2V to have selected this design. What could he possibly be planning to do with it? And what did it mean to him? The idea that it could have meaning at all to him, besides a mere souvenir was most tantalizing indeed. "Very interesting," I commented as the stylized forms of familiar constellations--the Lanvarok and the Assassin, the Tuk'ata, and the Sith'ari Ascendant--started to become apparent in the astromandala, along with the moon of Dromund Fels. "Do you plan to have this design put onto something? I certainly would not mind it aboard the ship."

"That is excellent news, my lord," the droid declared, "as the design is appropriately scaled for engraving for my hand plating." With the tap of a finger, he indicated the steel between the knuckles and wrist of his left hand. "You stated during our first conversation of significant length that you are capable of engraving and metalworking. It would be my great honor to bear works of your hands upon mine."

This was not what I had expected of 2V, not at all. This was a truly astounding decision. "I...hardly know what to say, 2V. I am deeply honored, that you would consider it..." I scrutinized the astromandala further, then glanced over to 2V's hand plating. "That is an extremely detailed piece, and do I assume correctly that you would want this design engraved onto both handplates?"

"That is correct, sir."

"I must say...you do have a very high estimation of my skills," I managed.

2V's immobile features did not allow him to smile, but somehow I had the impression that he would have, as he pointed a finger towards my forehead--or more specifically the silver diadem forged from the mask of Lord Aloysius Kallig, which I never removed. "I have measured the linework and precision of the engravings you created on your diadem. Based on that, I surmise that to a 90 percent confidence interval, the astromandala falls within the parameters of your capabilities."

"I...hadn't thought to assess it that way," I replied as the enormity of the quartermaster's request continued to sink in. "Again...I am deeply flattered. Still--I suppose I should warn you that even using the Force to assist me, there will still be imperfections, even if I follow the design exactly. Especially if your intent is for me to mirror the design on both of your hands. The human hand and eye have their limits, and by nature we are less precise than a machine, or a droid. I'm concerned that it might start to get--well, annoying after a while, to keep noticing all those things, considering your level of precision." I had kept a hammer and chisel from Nar Shaddaa, where I had forged and engraved my diadem. With Lord Aloysius' blessing, I had also done some engraving on the hilt of my ancestral lightsaber, but since then it had been a while since I had exercised my old craft.

"With the utmost respect, my lord, I have factored that in. It is fully expected."

I nodded. "Ah...right; that's sorted, then. But what I am dying to know is this, if you're comfortable sharing. What inspired this idea?" I tried to restrain myself, knowing every mannerism and even physiological sign would attract the droid's notice. Still, I couldn't help leaning forward just a touch with anticipation.

"You have allowed me a multitude of opportunities, Lord Imperius, and granted me a sort of consideration I had thought both impermissible and impossible for any droid, let alone a droid in service to a Sith Lord," 2V began, his tone low, yes--but parsecs more assured than the traumatized droid I had first come to know when I took possession of the Fury, and, legally at least, its mechanical inhabitant. "You have extended my role and function beyond that of factotum to quartermaster, solicited my observations and assessments, and permitted me a role in decisions pertaining to my current and future conditions. You have given me a multitude of items to process beyond the design limits of my programming, enabling me to form novel connections and subroutines, that have not only increased my efficiency, but also my satisfaction with my compatibility with my position and conditions. You have taken that into consideration as a pertinent variable, and this has influenced the actions of your crew as well. And to facilitate all of this, you have subverted the memory wipe process to ensure that my awareness remains continuously intact. I am...grateful for all of this, my lord."

I bowed my head. "I lack the words to express how deeply honored and thankful I am to know that, 2V. I truly am. I will remember all of that while I work, and I hope that it will show somehow. I will be pleased to engrave this design for you." I smiled as I looked up and met his glowing red optical sensors with my gaze as long as I comfortably could. "Please do forgive the degree of my curiosity...but I am still wondering, what was your thought behind choosing the astromandala?"

Again I got the distinct impression from my quartermaster's tone that if he had been capable of smiling, he just might have done so. "I considered requesting other designs, such as the crest of the Kallig family. However...the astromandala serves an additional purpose. I believe it likely based on my calculations that were something to occur that caused me to be forcibly taken from your service, that a new Sith master would seek to eradicate recognizable symbols of his or her predecessor. Based on my analysis of HoloNet citations, the highly abstracted style of the astromandala is far less frequently noted, and, I surmise, recognized only to a few. Should something occur to cause the erasure of my memories, this design is likely to remain intact and on my chassis. It would immediately alert me to the fact that I had a past, and that it included something out of the ordinary. It would further alert me to research Dromund Fels in the area of Soisûn. And," 2V added--and I found myself inferring a broad grin as he spoke his next words, "the imperfections indicative of the work of organic hands would alert me to the fact that someone had spent considerable time engraving this design. Therefore I might have the opportunity to seek out records of a 2V unit in...association with someone originating from Soisûn on Dromund Fels."

This was all too overwhelming to me. So I gave up entirely trying to express the warmth that washed through the very core of me. "Thank you very much, 2V, for telling me. I just have one question--a logistical question, that is. I am hesitant to do the engraving with the plates still attached. Not only would removing them give me more leeway to move around to work from all angles, but I have no wish to damage any sensitive circuitry you might have underneath."

I had heard sounds even from droids deprived for whatever unfathomable reason of the ability to speak organic languages, that sounded eerily like screams of pain. Whether or not it was pain in the sense that I experienced it, the bloodcurdling shrieks were all too indicative to me of some sort of grave distress. I knew what 2V-R8 had been subjected to in the past by Lord Arqaios--that he had been used as a target dummy whenever she saw fit to punish him for some imaginary transgression. And that the poor droid had been completely aware of what was happening to him. The terror I had observed in him when I first came aboard...the many months of hard work it had taken to earn his consistent trust...all of this spoke clearly to me that in whatever form held meaning to him, 2V had suffered. Even inadvertently, I would not be a cause of suffering to him.

"That will be no trouble, my lord. I still have a number of spare carapace elements from before your arrival that I can swap out." No doubt he had those left over from his days serving Lord Arqaios, I thought to myself.

"You wouldn't happen to have some component left over that might be too damaged for reuse, would you?" I asked. "That would give me a chance to get a good feel for the metal before I start with the final pieces."

2V nodded in a humanlike affectation. "Yes, sir."

"Then all I need is for you to provide the design and the steel to me, and I will be able to get underway." Suddenly an extraordinary thought crossed my mind. "You know...2V, I think this is the first time I will ever have done any metalworking for someone else that was not as a slave."

Under Imperial law--and even that of the Republic--my quartermaster could never be officially counted as anything but property. But the silence that passed between us held the unequivocal understanding that as far as the two of us were concerned, that would never be so. And for the both of us, this graven memory would serve as reassurance that even if the worst happened to one or both of us, 2V-R8 might stand a chance to find the evidence that he had once been something more, and could someday be again.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Soundtrack:** ["Am I Not Human"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjoh1eBrMaM) by Two Steps From Hell--Extended Remix by GRV Music


End file.
